06 Mar 2018 by Keisha Bhamra
Family Man and Fathers Inside are Safe Ground’s flagship family relationship programmes for men in prison, which have been delivered in over 50 establishments across England and Wales since 2003. Safe Ground alumni member Jason took the Family Man programme during his time in prison. It was great to have the opportunity to speak to […] … more »
05 Feb 2018 by Keisha Bhamra
On January 17th, the University of Warwick Criminal Justice Centre, in partnership with Safe Ground and The Howard League for Penal Reform, hosted a workshop titled ‘Chaos and Crisis: Can Prison Be Better Than This?’ The workshop aimed to discuss problems inside prisons and debate viable ways forward from a range of experts in the […] … more »
05 Feb 2018 by Keisha Bhamra
One of the great things about Safe Ground programmes is the end of programme presentation. The recent Man Up presentation at HMP/YOI Isis in January was delivered with humour and honesty. The opening speaker remarked that this was not “academy award stuff.” The insights gained were nonetheless riveting. Participants were eloquently talkative, very quiet and somewhere in between. This […] … more »
14 Dec 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
Safe Ground’s Fathers Inside and Family Man programmes have been completed by over 5000 students since 2003. I was delighted to be able to speak to one of our alumni, Richard, about how the arts and arts-based methodologies have helped him. Richard shared that Safe Ground was his first proper experience of the arts, apart […] … more »
07 Dec 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
Sergio Blanco’s Thebes Land cleverly utilises the ‘play within a play’ format popularised by Luigi Pirandello’s ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’. The play tells the story of two men, Martin who is in prison serving a life sentence for killing his father, and Trevor a playwright who is interviewing Martin to write a […] … more »
07 Dec 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
On 4th December the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance held their annual conference at The National Theatre, with a focus on: ‘What’s next for arts in criminal justice?’ The conference provided an opportunity for individuals in the field to come together and explore the importance of arts in criminal justice. John Glen MP, Minister for […] … more »
09 Nov 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
I attended the premier of Injustice, a film by London South Bank University Criminology Society and Unsound Robin. I thought about how this film explains our Criminal Justice System (CJS) and how to educate the public about what prison is really like. Recently I finished watching the gripping “Stranger Things” and I’ve decided to explain […] … more »
09 Nov 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
The HMPPS and Catch 22 conference was a great opportunity to learn more about care leavers and what this means for our work with those in prisons and the community, as a voluntary sector organisation. The opening keynote speech from Lisa Cherry particularly struck a chord, as she spoke about her experience as a care […] … more »
05 Oct 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
Written by Programmes Manager Lindsay: On 5 September, we attended the launch of the Farmer Review at the Centre for Social Justice in Central London. The review, published in August this year and hailed as landmark by government, names strong family ties as central to the prevention of reoffending, and the reduction of intergenerational crime. […] … more »
05 Oct 2017 by Keisha Bhamra
A Piece by Placement Student Paige: I recently attended my first presentation of Fathers Inside since joining Safe Ground, at HMP Parc. Fathers Inside focuses on parental responsibilities, children’s education, development and wellbeing with men in prison, through an intensive group-work programme which uses drama and arts. At the end of the programme the participants […] … more »
Safe Ground is founded by Antonia Rubinstein and Polly Freeman in 1993, then established as a charity in 1995.
Men in prison at HMP Woodhill create a drugs prevention video ‘Ryan’s Choice’ for year 6 school children (1997/98)
‘Parents for the 21st Century’ collaboration with the prison service begins in 1999. This helps absent fathers, whom are in prison, learn how they can improve their parenting skills for children aged 6 to 12.
Film ‘Blinda’ is created by men in prison at HMP Wandsworth – the story concerns Frank, who is serving a 3-year sentence and has cut off all communication with his 8-year-old son Wayne.
‘Blinda’ wins an International Visual Communication Award in 2001.
Family Man launches at HMP Wandsworth in early 2003.
Family Man and Fathers Inside are firmly established, raising the profile of parenting and family relationships in prisons.
Safe Ground train Prison Officers at HMP Wandsworth to deliver Family Man.
The revised Family Man programme has been successfully trialled in 6 establishments.
Safe Ground are shortlisted for The Centre for Social Justice Awards.
Safe Ground train members of the Belgian Prison Service in using the arts to engage hard to reach learners
Creating Community Archives project begins at HMYOI Deerbolt, using archive materials to engage young men in prison in a dialogue with World War 2 veterans
Common Ground project begins, aiming to engage school children, older adults and people in prison in a creative dialogue
Transitions project takes place at HMP Wandsworth in October 2012
The project was a creative outlet, which produced short stories and film scripts, as well as film ‘The View’
Safe Ground on the Run raises £20,000!
New programmes in development include Man Up and Officers’ Mess
GROUNDation, Safe Ground’s first ever spoken word and poetry evening takes place at the LOST Theatre, Wandsworth
Safe Ground creates programme ‘The Cay’ and delivers rehabilitative culture training to the staff at HMP Balsam Ghut in the British Virgin Islands
A Justice Data Lab analysis finds that the one year proven reoffending rate for participants on the Family Man programme was 32%, compared to 39% for a matched control group of similar offenders
GROUNDation Poetry project wins a Gold award at the Koestler Awards in September 2015
Women’s programme ‘Our Own Stories’, a creative personal development programme for women, is piloted at HMP Styal, HMP East Sutton Park, HMP Askham Grange and HMP Low Newton
Safe Ground turns 21! An Open House event is held for the public to learn more about the organisation’s history
‘MOVING. HOME.’ Symposium is held at the National Theatre, exploring the meaning of ‘home’ with a range of panellists, including Safe Ground alumni and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC
A Justice Data Lab analysis finds that Fathers Inside participants are 40% less likely to re-offend than their counterparts.
Safe Ground win the Longford Prize for contribution to penal reform
Officers’ Mess is delivered at HMP Berwyn, with 86% of participants agreeing that the course made them think about how they respond in different situations
The Who Am I? programme in partnership with Ormiston Families’ Transforming Rehabilitation is rolled out in probation sites across the East of England.
Our Symposium ‘A Matter of Life and Death’ is held at the Roundhouse. We invite guests to discuss issues of punishment, prison, exclusion and harm. There are five performers, all with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
We'd love to hear from you and answer any questions you may have. Send us an email,
make your specialist training requests, stay in touch, check out our YouTube channel
and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
